That Famous Fake Tracking Scam

Posted 5 months ago·Last reply 4 months ago

20 comments

simba6

·5 months ago

2327 View listings

It's taken the world by storm. So, why is nothing being done about it. I mean , it's the elephant in the room.

krazzykats

·5 months ago

5712 View listings

Because no one wants to share the information, and USPS keeps address details private.

ᓚᘏᗢ

powell-collectibles

·5 months ago

JBLBFF, Mixed Bag Guy, AND Unofficial Mentor to the Stars2349 View listings

@krazzykats wrote:
Because no one wants to share the information, and USPS keeps address details private.

ᓚᘏᗢ

Not according to the eBay CEO. He indicates that they have “unprecedented access“ into shipper data. What do we think this means? Either they have the data Or he lied.

Seems to me that eBay can do what PayPal does – the ability to file a dispute because the item was delivered to the wrong location. That seems to be the very minimum of what eBay should be doing while they figure out what to do with that “unprecedented access“ to shipping data.

tools*

·5 months ago

Unwitting thread killer479 View listings

@simba6 wrote:
It's taken the world by storm. So, why is nothing being done about it. I mean, it's the elephant in the room.

Why would I want to do anything about the elephant in the room? I like elephants. Okay, maybe I'd take him outside.

pickapaper

·5 months ago

Even if the correct addressee were identified, it wouldn't help because @soh.maryl said the package was an empty envelope.

Wish someone could figure out some way to stop this nonsense. But even if they did, the thieves would probably just figure out another way to scam people out of their money. I would think the credit card companies would be getting tired of it too, if enough people are filing chargebacks.

chapeau-noir

·5 months ago

Klaatu barada nikto6593 View listings

I've been getting tracking emails purporting to be from the USPS - nothing ever arrives. I just dump the emails.

christworks

·5 months ago

@soh.maryl I'm not sure what sharing the tracking number publicly would do other than make it more difficult to connect it to the person it was going to, if that is your goal. That scam is not exclusive to eBay, so we cannot even assume it is related to anybody on eBay.

Honestly I would toss it in the garbage and not worry too much about it. The odds the buyer in question will show up here are small, and if they did they may not want the tracking number shared.

If you truly want to see this through, then maybe hold on to it for a few weeks. If someone pops up missing a package due to this scam, you could vet them by 1. asking for their zip code to see if it matches yours. (The only way the scam works is the seller must ship to the same zip code used by the actual buyer.) 2. If they pass the zip code test, ask them for the tracking number associated with their missing order. If it matches, congrats, you likely found the actual buyer.

If you post the tracking number for all to see, it will make it hard to be sure you are talking to the right buyer and not someone trying to scam you by getting your address and other personal information.

a_c_green

·5 months ago

4200 View listings

@christworks wrote:
That scam is not exclusive to eBay, so we cannot even assume it is related to anybody on eBay.

The USPS can identify the purchaser of the on-line postage using their in-house intranet system, but I don't think they would necessarily know in which market the sender is operating (e.g. it might be purchased through Pitney Bowes, but not necessarily as the result of an eBay sale).

While it does look like a scam sale for sure, I don't think there's much the OP can (or would need to) do about it. The return address on the label, if there is one, may well be fake, or another randomly-chosen address like that of the OP. Probably the only useful data about this shipment would be what the USPS knows about the original purchaser, but I don't see much here for the OP to go on, other then perhaps to notify his post office or mark it as Addressee Unknown/Return To Sender. At least he's not suffering any loss himself.

soh.maryl

OP5 months ago

No, did not expect to do anything about it. It's just that I've read about this for years and years and now I've seen it firsthand.

soh.maryl

OP5 months ago

How does the seller find another address in the same zip code?

christworks

·5 months ago

@soh.maryl wrote:
How does the seller find another address in the same zip code?

Using a real estate website like Zillow would be an easy way to do it.

A scammer could also pull up Google maps, locate their buyer's home, then click a few streets over and find a home to send the package to.

pickapaper

·5 months ago

@christworks wrote:
@soh.maryl wrote:
How does the seller find another address in the same zip code?
Using a real estate website like Zillow would be an easy way to do it.
A scammer could also pull up Google maps, locate their buyer's home, then click a few streets over and find a home to send the package to.

@soh.maryl

@christworks

If those scammers randomly find addresses on the internet to which to send their fake packages, what are the odds that they happened to use the address of someone who posts on this board and knows about the scam? I would think most people receiving an empty envelope wouldn't have a clue.

Maryl, did the envelope have a return address? If so, it was probably fake too.

soh.maryl

OP5 months ago

OK, but Zillow is a place where property that's for sale is listed.

My house is not for sale and has not been for over 57 years.

So how would Zillow be a source for the scammer to find my address and zip?

Yes, the envelope does have a return address, undoubtedly fake also.

pickapaper

·5 months ago

@soh.maryl wrote:
OK, but Zillow is a place where property that's for sale is listed.
My house is not for sale and has not been for over 57 years.
So how would Zillow be a source for the scammer to find my address and zip?
Yes, the envelope does have a return address, undoubtedly fake also.

@soh.maryl

Many times if you look up an address, it will come up under Zillow but it will say that it is not for sale. I really don't know where those guys get addresses but it wouldn't be hard to do. Ownerly and Whitepages list addresses, to name just a couple that I found on the internet. To happen to use your address had to be just a needle in a haystack, a fluke.

a_c_green

·5 months ago

4200 View listings

Any address will do. The scammer can just ask Google to give them the mailing address for any McDonald's in that ZIP Code, for example.

christworks

·5 months ago

@pickapaper wrote:

@christworks wrote:
@soh.maryl wrote:
How does the seller find another address in the same zip code?
Using a real estate website like Zillow would be an easy way to do it.
A scammer could also pull up Google maps, locate their buyer's home, then click a few streets over and find a home to send the package to.
@soh.maryl
@christworks

If those scammers randomly find addresses on the internet to which to send their fake packages, what are the odds that they happened to use the address of someone who posts on this board and knows about the scam? I would think most people receiving an empty envelope wouldn't have a clue.

Maryl, did the envelope have a return address? If so, it was probably fake too.

@pickapaper I doubt the scammer has any idea who @soh.maryl . They are not going to think that deep about it. They are going to pick a home or business in the same zip code, and move on.

I hate to tell the both of you this, but it is very easy to find nearly anybody's address. In fact, if someone wanted to, they could quite easily find every address you had over the past 50 years. Phone numbers, emails, where you worked, etc. From there someone can put your address into Google Maps, find out what it looks like from all directions, see what it looked like at different points over the past 15 years or so.

We still have a landline phone. Poor mom does not understand how a spam caller has her number when she pays for it to be unlisted. I said, mom, I can find the house number in about 5 seconds, along with who lives here, how long they've lived here, where each person lived before, who they were married to and friends with...so on and so on.

pickapaper

·5 months ago

@christworks wrote:
@pickapaper wrote

@christworks wrote:
@soh.maryl wrote:
How does the seller find another address in the same zip code?
Using a real estate website like Zillow would be an easy way to do it.
A scammer could also pull up Google maps, locate their buyer's home, then click a few streets over and find a home to send the package to.
@soh.maryl
@christworks

If those scammers randomly find addresses on the internet to which to send their fake packages, what are the odds that they happened to use the address of someone who posts on this board and knows about the scam? I would think most people receiving an empty envelope wouldn't have a clue.

Maryl, did the envelope have a return address? If so, it was probably fake too.

@pickapaper I doubt the scammer has any idea who @soh.maryl . They are not going to think that deep about it. They are going to pick a home or business in the same zip code, and move on.

I hate to tell the both of you this, but it is very easy to find nearly anybody's address. In fact, if someone wanted to, they could quite easily find every address you had over the past 50 years. Phone numbers, emails, where you worked, etc. From there someone can put your address into Google Maps, find out what it looks like from all directions, see what it looked like at different points over the past 15 years or so.

We still have a landline phone. Poor mom does not understand how a spam caller has her number when she pays for it to be unlisted. I said, mom, I can find the house number in about 5 seconds, along with who lives here, how long they've lived here, where each person lived before, who they were married to and friends with...so on and so on.

soh.maryl

OP4 months ago

Yes, am well aware that just about anyone can find nearly any information they want about me on the internet.

My question is: But, if I wanted to find out your address, for instance, wouldn't I have to know your name in order to search for information?

Still puzzling, but, yes, I have moved on.

pickapaper

·5 months ago

@christworks

Oh, I know you can find all that information on the internet. But there is also a lot of wrong information out there. I once Googled my name and found out that my neighbor and my mother own my house, both deceased and neither of which has ever had anything to do with it.

When I said "what are the odds" of @soh.maryl receiving an empty envelope and knowing what it was, I meant that if most people received an empty envelope in the mail, they would stand there and look at it trying to figure out what in the world it was. I didn't mean that the scammers picked her address because they might have known she was on eBay. It was just a coincidence.

christworks

·5 months ago